It is well known to provide vehicles with add-on armor, in order to protect the occupants of the vehicle from different threats, for example, incoming projectiles or nearby explosions. Adding armor is usually performed for combat and logistics vehicles taking part in military operations or stationed in hostile environments.
In particular, one major threat to combat and logistics vehicles is explosive devices usually buried or concealed along roads on which the combat vehicle travels, and designed to explode (under a belly of the vehicle), when the vehicle comes to the location of the explosive device, or passes thereover.
Such an explosion, can cause structural damage to the belly of the vehicle (e.g. rupture, penetration etc.), hurting its occupants (e.g. soldiers). For this purpose, armor is commonly attached to the belly of the vehicle (also referred to as ‘belly armor’), and adapted to shield the belly from the explosion hazards.
Various constructions for protecting a vehicle belly are known, for example, such constructions as described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,712,823, WO2010/090661, EP2267400, U.S. Pat. No. 5,533,781 and US2011/0079134.